5 Website Must-Haves [Infographic]

Your website is an extension of your brand. Your website is your best tool. Your website is your top salesperson. According to the latest study, 88 percent of shoppers conduct online research before making a purchase. That's an increase of seven percent in just the last few years. Business owners know people are using their website to research before buying, but what are they doing about it? Below are five essential pieces a successful website needs to have.

1. Conversion Rate Optimization

The real meaning of CRO is optimizing your website to convert more visitors by strategically changing pieces of your site to increase your leads. You get more visitors by optimizing your website and learning what your audience wants. Casting a wide net is a great way to generate lots of leads for your business, and CRO allows your website to weed out visitors who are qualified from those who aren't.

2. Personas

Your website is for your visitors, not for you. A persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. And yes, businesses typically have more than one. The best way to get people to convert on your site is to be sure you’re answering the questions they came to you for. And putting together buyer personas will help you understand your ideal customers and make it easier for you to make your website a useful place for them.

3. User Experience

User experience is the feeling your users have when navigating your website. A positive user experience is a website that is:

Useful

Usable

Desirable

Valuable

Findable

Credible

Accessible

User experience is all about making a website easy to use for the individuals who visit it. And yes, if your current site doesn't provide good UX, it's time to change that.

4. Tracking Your Website Performance

You can’t tell whether or not your website is working without the correct tools. Google Analytics,HotJar,Decibel Insight, and many more are available to give you stats on your websites performance. You can see where users are clicking, how far down they scroll, the path they take on your site, and you can even watch user recordings.

5. Tracking Success & Ways to Improve

Once you have your data collected, it’s time to see what is or isn’t working. Find what pages are successful and why, then try to recreate that success on other pages of your site. Data related to time spent on page, bounce rate, and page load time are all keys to improvement.

Now that you know the must-haves for your website, it’s time to get these added. Your website is your best tool; invest in it.

About The Author

A deep love of art and design drives me as I navigate the ever-changing waters of marketing. I am constantly looking for new and better ways to give the inbound marketing methodology the beautiful face it deserves. As the Art Director, I ensure that all of the design work we produce is top notch and designed with a purpose. When I’m not trying to solve creative problems, my life revolves around my family and friends, my passion for music, and my addiction to stories.